AJ Styles Says The Club Expanded — ‘No One Is Safe’, Plus New ‘WWE RAW’ & ‘SmackDown’ Logos


WWE’s draft for their brand split occurred Tuesday, and The Club has been drafted to different brands: AJ Styles was drafted to SmackDown, while Anderson and Gallows were drafted to RAW. Many fans were outraged with the stable being split-up so soon after recently arriving to the WWE. Fans may have felt relief when they saw a tweet from Styles that said, “Ha! Some may think The Club has split up. We’ve expanded, no one is safe.” The tweet also featured a picture of a new t-shirt for The Club. And as many fans are aware, the group’s history in wrestling is enriched with expansions throughout several wrestling promotions.

The stable originated in 2013, in the Japan promotion NJPW (New Japan Pro Wrestling), under the name The Bullet Club. The original leader was Prince Devitt, now known in NXT as Finn Balor. Joining Balor to form the alliance was Karl Anderson, Bad Luck Fale, and Tama Tonga. When Balor left NJPW to head to NXT, Karl Anderson took over as the leader and AJ Styles became the newest member. At the time, Styles was also wrestling in the states, most notably for Ring of Honor (ROH), and he was the leader for the ROH version of The Bullet Club. Styles arrived in the WWE last January, and when Gallows and Anderson arrived in April, fans were ecstatic!

[Photo via WWE]
In a June interview with Amarillo.com, Karl Anderson expressed how he felt about wrestling in the WWE with The Club.

“This [WWE] is where we wanted to be. To be able to come in and make an impact like we have in the WWE with two of my best friends (Luke Gallows and A.J. Styles) and working together like this has been cool. To do things with John Cena and when we worked with Romans Reigns has been surreal. It’s something we knew we could do and it’s been amazing.”

He also speculated on what possibilities the WWE brand split could bring.

“The brand extension is going to offer different opportunities. What they did back 2001 or 2002, or whenever it was, I think John Cena ended up on Smackdown and ended up turning himself into a global superstar. One of my best friends Finn Balor is in NXT and when he gets up to either Raw or Smackdown we’ll get to see him. He’ll be amazing and there are other superstars from NXT that will get to come up that the world needs to see. There is a ton of depth on the roster and we’re all excited for the opportunity. It’s going to give everyone a chance to grow.”

[Photo via WWE]
When Balor arrived in NXT, merchandise was released for The Balor Club, playing off of the name The Bullet Club. During the live draft, Finn Balor was drafted from NXT to RAW, the same brand that Gallows and Anderson now wrestle for. So it is a possibility that Balor would reunite with The Club on RAW. In the SmackDown brand, AJ Styles will have numerous talents to choose from for his version of The Club.

This Monday marks the first RAW since the WWE brand-split, and Tuesday is the first SmackDown. As the weeks go on, AJ Styles’ message of the group expanding should certainly come to fruition. In the meantime, RAW and SmackDown general managers Mick Foley and Daniel Bryan have tweeted the new logos for their respected brands.

With the WWE brand split, AJ Styles announcement of The Club expanding, and RAW and SmackDown getting a new look, the WWE universe certainly has a lot to look forward to in the coming months.

[Photo via WWE]

Share this article: AJ Styles Says The Club Expanded — ‘No One Is Safe’, Plus New ‘WWE RAW’ & ‘SmackDown’ Logos
More from Inquisitr